Here They Stand
by sunnyamazing
Summary: Sometimes time moves too fast, sometimes too slow and sometimes you just need a moment to remember before you move forward. The cemetery, one year to the day, they stand together, again. One-shot.


Another one-shot idea that occurred to me while I was brushing my teeth. No real spoilers for season four, assumes knowledge of Knockout, this is my hiatus therapy, writing the random thoughts that my muse comes up with. It is set one year to the day of Captain Montgomery's funeral. I'd like to know your thoughts and for readers of For Her - you should have the Jim chapter very soon, this idea just wouldn't leave my head until I'd written it.

I don't own anything you recognize.

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><p><strong>Here They Stand<strong>

She shivers as the wind brushes past her; he doesn't miss her shiver and immediately turns towards her. She smiles reassuringly, she knows he didn't want her to come here today, he would have liked her to have come yesterday, or even tomorrow – just not today – because today, is one year.

One year.

She can say those two words over and over, but still it doesn't seem like long enough. It doesn't seem like enough time for all that has happened - it doesn't feel long enough. One year doesn't seem like enough time, it's not long enough to solve a decade old mystery, it's not long enough to see a man finally in jail, it's not long enough to see a wedding, an engagement, a pregnancy, two new books, a new captain, a long and sometimes painful recovery and a new relationship – but that has all happened – so here they stand.

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><p>Today the cemetery is quiet, there's no music, no ceremony, no others, it's just the two of them. There are no speeches to be made, no casket to be carried, no flag to fold, no wife to comfort.<p>

It's peaceful as he looks around, he can't help but study the grounds, he can't help but look for danger, it's what he does, he protects the woman he loves.

He doesn't want to be here today, when she first told him about her plan to visit the cemetery on this day, he had to stop himself from fainting. For one year he's had nightmares of this place, of him being unable to leap towards her, of him not being at the funeral, of her dying in his arms before he'd had the chance to tell her how he felt about her.

He has woken startled on several occasions, woken worried that she was gone and he was alone and the nightmares all begin here – with him on this patch of green grass.

She'd told him that he didn't need to come, that she would understand, he'd scoffed and told her that anywhere she was going he was going too – so here they stand.

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><p>A bird flies past overhead and she's taken back to a memory, to the months of recovery, to the day he convinced the nurses to allow him to take her to the Hamptons. How he'd convinced them she'd never know, she'd been home for a month, but still needing to visit the hospital every second day, somehow he'd taken her away for four days, four days when she finally felt like herself again.<p>

By day two she'd wanted to walk along the beach and by the end of day three she'd managed to convince him that she was actually able to walk the short distance to the small group of shops that lined the foreshore.

They'd set off close to dusk, he'd held her hand the entire time – at least he had tried to, he'd even watched each step she'd taken, and just as they'd neared their destination a bird had flown over their heads, it had startled him and he'd let go of her hand and then fallen into the sand.

She had remained upright, and hadn't been able to stop herself from laughing. He'd made a face and protested that he didn't like birds – but that didn't stop her from laughing. She'd laughed herself hoarse, laughed until there was no more, laughed until she'd had to sit down next to him in the sand.

They'd sat there, side by side, for what felt like hours, but was really only minutes; eventually he'd helped her to her feet, even with her protests that she may be better off getting up alone, even with his protests that he'd promised the nurses he'd look after her.

She reaches out for his hand now, he smiles and squeezes her fingers tightly, she smiles back, by the time they'd made it back to the house she'd told him she loved him too, they'd sat together all night and had watched the sun rise on day four. By the time they'd made it back to the city, everything and nothing had changed.

His new book is released next week, the fourth piece of the Nikki Heat story, she's read it four times already, they don't know if it's going to be the last one or if the story will continue – it all depends on how well it is received. She thinks it's wonderful, but she would, after all it's dedicated to her, again.

_To the woman I am proud to stand beside, always. _

She shed a tear when she saw the dedication for the first time and as she thinks of it now she can't help but feel a little emotional. He notices and wraps his arms around her, sometimes they don't need words, but she will need words tonight.

She will need words to tell him that she's pregnant, that she's going to be a mother and he a father again, she will need words to explain that that's part of the reason she wanted to come here today, time moves on, sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow, but today needed to be marked, the past needed to be remembered, before the two of them move to a hopefully happy future – so here they stand, remembering.


End file.
